Guy Arnold - Africa: a modern history: 1945-2015

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

From 1960 to 2000, the period covered by this book, momentous changes occurred throughout Africa to transform the continent from being a colonial extension of Europe into fifty independent nations. Following independence these new nations, struggled to achieve an identity of their own, faced the pressures of the Cold War, witnessed the emergence of the one party state and the charismatic political leader, watched the rise of their armies as major political players who carried out coups on a scale unequalled anywhere else and saw their continent wracked by wars that inevitably attracted interventions by the worlds leading powers in the Congo, Angola, the Horn and elsewhere. Lack of trained personnel and economic weakness rendered most African countries deeply vulnerable to external manipulation by the former colonial powers, the new superpowers, part of whose ideological confrontations were conducted in Africa, and the western controlled World Bank and IMF, a process famously described by Kwame Nkrumah as neo-colonialism. The Africa which established the Organization of African Unity in 1963 had changed out of recognition by the beginning of the 21st century. By any reckoning the events of these years amount to an historical revolution.

During 40 years of travelling in Africa and writing about its political and economic development I have drawn upon the knowledge and experience of a wide range of people whom it would be impossible to name. Their insights have influenced my own growing understanding and attachment to Africa over my professional writing life and this book reflects that influence though the arguments and conclusions are entirely my own.

I wish to record my particular thanks to Toby Mundy, my publisher, who has backed this large project with enthusiasm; and Louisa Joyner who has overseen each stage in the preparation of the book for publication. I am particularly grateful to Sue Hewitt and Ruth Weiss for their careful reading of the text and suggestions as to facts, presentation and clarity, and to Derek Ingram for a final appraisal.

Guy Arnold
2005

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

SECTION 1:

SECTION 2:

SECTION 3:

SECTION 4:

SECTION 5:

LIST OF MAPS

Part I: The 1960s Decade of Hope

Part II: The 1970s Decade of Realism

Part III: The 1980s Basket Case?

PART IV: The 1990s New Directions and New Perceptions

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DATE LINE

1940s

1945 End World War II

Establishment of United Nations

Sixth Pan-African Conference (Manchester, England)

Setif Uprising, Algeria

Only four African countries independent Egypt, Ethiopia Liberia, South Africa

1948 National Party wins South African election; implements apartheid

1950s

1951 Portugal transforms its African colonies into overseas provinces

Egypt abrogates 1936 Treaty with Britain; British troops occupy Canal Zone

Libya independent

1952 Army coup in Egypt; King Farouk goes into exile

Ahmed Ben Bella forms Algerian Revolutionary Committee in Cairo

1952-1959 Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya

1953 Trial of Jomo Kenyatta for managing Mau Mau backfires, helps create myth of Kenyatta the nationalist leader

Britain forms Central African Federation (CAF): Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland under white minority rule

1954 Col. Nasser takes full control in Egypt

National Liberation Front (FLN) launches Algerian war of independence

1956 Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia independent

Suez Crisis

French Loi Cadre gives universal suffrage in French West and Equatorial Africa

1957 Gold Coast independent as Ghana

1958 De Gaulle tours Francophone Africa; offers self-government within a French Community

Guinea under Sekou Tour opts for full independence; France breaks relations

1960s

1960 Harold Macmillan gives Wind of Change speech in Cape Town

21 March, Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa

30 June, Belgian Congo independent; descends into chaos

annus mirabilis most of Francophone Africa Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (B), Dahomey (Benin), Gabon, Ivory Coast (Cte dIvoire), Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) independent

Ethiopia, abortive coup against Emperor Haile Selassie

British Somaliland joins former Italian Somaliland to form independent Republic of Somalia

Nigeria independent

1961 Patrice Lumumba murdered in Katanga (Congo)

Casablanca (radical) and Monrovia (moderate) groups threaten to divide Africa into rival camps

Portugal claims its African subjects are full citizens of Portugal

Liberation struggle launched in Angola

Sierra Leone, Tanganyika independent

South Africa leaves Commonwealth

Death of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold

ECA study: Impact of Western European integration on African trade and development EEC a threat to African exports

1962 Algeria, Uganda independent

Haile Selassie ends Federation of Eritrea and Ethiopia, incorporates Eritrea in Empire prelude to 30 years warfare

UN general assembly calls upon all members to break ties with South Africa; special committee against apartheid is established

1963 Katanga secession ended by UN forces

Addis Ababa conference of 30 independent African states creates Organisation of African Unity (OAU)

Early OAU resolution calls on all members not to establish any relations with South Africa until apartheid is abandoned

Amilcar Cabral launches independence struggle in Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bisau)

First Yaounde Convention between the EC and African countries with ties to EC (former colonies of members)

Kenya, Zanzibar independent Central African Federation dissolved

1964 revolution in Zanzibar (January); Zanzibar joins Tanganyika to form

United Republic of Tanzania (April)

British forces quell army mutinies in East Africa

First OAU summit held in Cairo

FRELIMO launches liberation struggle in Mozambique

French troops reverse coup in Gabon to keep MBa in power

The Shifta border war between Kenya and Somalia to 1967

Rivonia treason trial in South Africa: Mandela, Sisulu and other African nationalist leaders get life sentences, sent to Robben Island

Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia independent as Malawi and Zambia

Zhou en Lai in Mali enunciates Eight Principles of Chinese aid

1965 Coup in Algeria: Ben Bella deposed; Boumedienne becomes head of state

The Gambia independent

White minority government of Southern Rhodesia makes unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) 11 November

OAU resolution calls on members to break diplomatic relations with Britain by 15 December unless it has taken action to reverse UDI; only 11 countries do so

Joseph Mobutu carries out second coup in the Congo (24 November) to rule to 1997

1966 Commonwealth summit in Lagos devoted to UDI in Rhodesia

Coup in Nigeria: military rule replaces civilian government

UN imposes sanctions on Rhodesia

Coup ousts Nkrumah in Ghana; military rule

UN General Assembly proclaims 21 March (Sharpeville day) International day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

UN terminates South Africas mandate over South West Africa (Namibia)

SWAPO launches armed struggle in Namibia

Assassination of Prime Minister Verwoerd of South Africa